Sit Properly

Last summer, around Radhastami, I was hanging out at New Vrndavana with a few devotees who were into personal prayer. Really into it. It’s not like I didn’t agree, of course, I was fine with it, I just didn’t do it.

We’d be talking about one of my many problems and they’d ask, “Eric have you prayed about this?” I paused for a bit, thought and said, “Hopes are prayers.” Which is true, but by the scowling look on their faces I knew they saw through that one.

“Eric, promise me that you’ll pray about this.”

I gave some half-hearted nod thing to shut them up. It’s not that I didn’t believe in prayer… I just didn’t realize it was important or did anything. I pretty much just didn’t care about it.

As many devotees have noticed when we don’t care about something in Krishna consciousness, Krishna throws us right into the middle of whatever it is we don’t care about.

For Radhastami, someone came up with the idea that the devotees and guests should write a prayer to Radharani on a piece of paper, tie it to a helium-filled balloon and float it up into the altar. When I heard about this, I rolled my eyes – probably making a ton of offenses in the rolling.

I was really grumpy about it. Even more than I usually am. I thought, “why not just chant Hare Krishna?” Or, if you really have to, just say a silent prayer to Radharani. I get cranky and obstinate sometimes.

So guess who was magically put in charge of the task of giving the paper and pens to devotees and then tying the message to the balloon? That’s right, me. Thanks Krishna!

I went from being grumpy to just not wanting to be there. But as the devotees, hundreds of them, filtered by me, I was purified by their association. I could see what they were writing and it moved me. Yes, bhakta Grinches’s heart grew three times that day! Some were praising Her (which is always good to hear), some were just saying “hi,” and some were crying out to her for help. As more and more came through my line, the more this idea grew on me, the more this idea of personal prayer grew on me.

As my friends passed by, they would ask, “Did you put yours in yet? Did you write one yet?” Each one wearing me down, chiseling away at my stupid stone heart.

By the end of it, I had run out of balloons, the line was gone, replaced by a kirtana of devotees, and as they were closing the altar, I quickly wrote a short prayer to Srimati Radharani on a pink little piece of paper and slipped it under the deity doors just before it was too late.

I had slipped a note under God’s door… That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I love Krishna consciousness!

Yesterday I was checking the feeds at PlanetISKCON.com and came across an article entitled Scooter car Ratha Yatra Rally at Ludhiana. I guess some devotees had a scooter (and car and motorcycle) rally for Krishna! This is totally up my ally.

I mean, c’mon. Check out this pic:

Looks like a Vespa P series covered in flowers! Though I could be wrong about the make. There are somethings that make me think it’s not a P series. Yeah, but anyway… What a great idea!

Not covering your scoot in flowers, but a scooter rally for Krishna. Yeah, wouldn’t really work in the US. I only know of one other devotee scooterist.

But that did remind me of my horribly failed attempt to travel the country by scooter this past summer. Even before I was able to start, my scooter died and the store didn’t sell and I just couldn’t make it happen.

Now, however, I’ve got a more reliable scooter and a plan. A better plan. Want to hear it?

Ok, from May to about September, the Festival of India travels around the US and Canada, starting in the east (where I’ll be in May) and heading west (to where I want to be in September). I’d be insane not to try to follow it on my scooter.

The schedule changes each year, but the cluster of Ratha-yatras that happen on the east coast happen from the end of May through June and into July. That would be no problem at all. It would even allow me to come home from time to time. And then, right before the long jaunt west (this year it was from Toronto on July 14 & 15 to Calgary on July 21), I could finalize my packing and moving, get all my stuff together and ready to ship or haul out, vacate my apartment and hop on my Bajaj and ride out.

Now, how I’d make it (in this example) from Toronto to Calgary in less than a week on a scooter that rarely goes faster than 50mph is beyond me. 2100 miles is six days? Honestly, that’s impossible. Well, unlikely. So I’d probably have to miss a Rath here and there, but still…

Is this a good idea? I think it is! And hell, if I sell the store, it’s possible I’ll even have a new, faster scooter for this trip (thinking of the Vespa GTS 250 – it’s automatic, which I don’t like, but goes 76mph – however, it costs $6,000).

The 2008 Ratha Yatra schedule won’t be released until February or March, so I won’t really be able to plan this until then. I have a few other trips in the works, of course. But they may be null and void depending on which way the Festival of India goes. I’d like to do the south and south west. We’ll see if that happens.

Oh, and yes, I did just buy a scooter. A 2006 Bajaj, bringing my current herd to FOUR scooters. I don’t want four scooters, I want one. I love them all, but I don’t think I’ve found the right scooter for me. I’m hoping the Vespa GTS is “that one.”

[This is the Bajaj that I have now - one very similar to it, anyway.]

Today is the appearance day of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. He is the spiritual master (guru) of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master’s spiritual master. Our line goes backwards from Srila Prabhupada to Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati to Gaura Kishor dasa Babaji to Bhaktivinoda Thakura. And it is his birthday that we are celebrating today.

A really good bio is available to read here.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote a ton of books, songs and poems. Many are sung by Hare Krishna devotees everyday. Many of those are here.

One song in particular that is my favorite is Prasada Sevaya. A really cool rendition of it is

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To celebrate this day, devotees fast until noon.

edit – Found this amazing picture of Bhaktivinoda Thakura! I don’t know the story behind the hat and the garb, but it’s pretty damn cool anyway…

This weekend was wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that upon returning from it, all I want to do is watch Casablanca and mope about not being around devotees (though, instead, I’m just watching Buffy).

I had a few reservations about the weekend. The plans on how to get there weren’t exactly falling into place. Was this some sign that I should cancel it? I hate reading into these things.

Luckily, there’s car rentals. I got a good deal and was on my way.

I arrived after dark at Elisabeth’s. It was the first time meeting her. And after the horrible experience I had with the last person I had a first time meeting with (SLC), I was a bit apprehensive. And nervous. I didn’t want another experience like that.

But VERY thankfully, it was the exact opposite of it. We chatted a bit and watched some TV (hey! House is a good show!) and Eddie Izzard and talked more till falling asleep.

The next morning, the day of the Rath, was Ekadasi. We ate a handful of grapes and a banana or two, got dressed and headed off to the event.

At this point, I don’t even want to talk much about it. It was great. I had a great time.

One of the surreal highlights were the bagpippers.

Why were there bagpipers at a Ratha-Yatra? I have no idea. They lead the procession, playing “Hare Krishna” melodies (seriously, this was WEIRD – but oh so Philly). Elisabeth and I held the “Philadelphia ISKCON” sign. Then came Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu…

What’s cool is that two of the devotees (Caru-candra and Priya Darshana) were both at the temple when I started coming. They’re still around and so am I. It was great.

And after them, came the rest of the folks…

Olivia found me while I was carrying the sign (which had misspelled Acharya, by the way) and we talked for a bit. Elisabeth and I were released of sign duty and joined the rest of the devotees for the big kirtana.

Another bit of Philly surrealism was Ben Franklin.

Why? I don’t know, but I was happy to see him. Most of the time, he was walking around, carrying a Bhagavad-gita. That’s great!

This was a Ratha-Yatra that David Byrne, circa 1986 – True Stories should have been narrating. It was weird. But I loved it. Quite possibly the best one I’ve been to ever.

After the procession, Elisabeth and I got some prasad (food) and found Ananga Manjari, Nedra (who reads and posts here a lot), Bhagavan (who I knew from NV and who is now married to Ananga), Olivia and Mangari Lila. We sat around and talked. I loved it.

At one point, Ananga’s kids and another lil vaisnava were running full speed into the Moon… bouncy .. thinger… This thing:

It was adorable!

The day was winding down and so I think everyone left. I wanted to say goodbye to .. well, everyone. But could only manage to find Olivia, who was in quite a mood. We hugged anyway, said goodbye and Elisabeth and I were off.

What an amazing Ratha-Yatra!

The devotee community there was so sweet. I really really liked it. If it weren’t for harsh winters, I would move there. Even with harsh winters, it’s tempting.

The next day… that would be today… we woke up and we went to Govindas Restaurant. The cafe side. I think I saw Prema there. He’s a devotee I’ve known for years. I’m pretty sure it was him. He sort of recognized me. And I saw Arvin too. If you’ve been following my blog since it’s been on LJ, he was the Indian devote who accompanied me, Jan, Yaitsa and Madhava Gosh to Bhahulavana last summer. He remembered me. Damn, I really love Philly.

Ok, enough with the babble. That was my weekend. Anyone else want to weigh in?

Big super thanks to Elisabeth, Lola (who looks nothing like a man) and Scrabble for hostessing me this weekend. It was very appreciated!

Today was great. Met SO many people who I’ve always wanted to meet! Nedra and Ananga and Manjari Lila made my day. And seeing Olivia again was great. And I saw Caru-candra (we sort of joined up around the same time), and Bhagavan (who was at NV when I was) and a bunch of other devotees I knew.

I really love Philly.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of everyone. I wish I would have gotten ANY pictures of anyone. But I didn’t.

Great day. Will post what pics I have tomorrow when I return.

As of 4pm today, I’m Philly bound. I’ll be there till Sunday afternoon and then be back here Sunday evening.

I’ll have pictures and stories. Yay!

I’m taking my laptop with me, so I’m assuming I’ll be reachable.

In other news, my friend Al passed this along to me…

Click.

I’ve got dwindling options here.

Ratha-yatra starts at noon on Saturday somewhere in downtown Philly. The plan was to drive down Friday after work (getting off at four) and crashing at Elisabeth’s house (she’s a devotee from Philly). But since I don’t have my bus back, I’ll have to ride the scooter.

When riding a scooter, even though I can top out at 55mph, I really have to figure on only getting about 35 – 40mph average. Can’t take interstates. Philly is 150 miles away and 150 miles at 35mph is about 4 and one quarter hours. So, figuring in stops, let’s call it a five hour ride.

Since I leave work at four, I wouldn’t pull into Philly till 9pm. I have zero desire to ride through Philly at night. Especially on a Friday night. No thank you.

I was hoping to get someone to work for me from noon till four, but that’s not a possibility now.

I basically have two options.

1) Forget it.

2) Ride down part of the way on Friday night, camping somewhere (possible Locust Lake State Park near Pottstown), and then doing the rest Saturday morning.

The problem with that is that it will be around 55 – 60 degrees and near 100% humidity. That means fog. That means I can’t ride. Riding through fog on a scooter through twisty roads is pretty much like playing Russian Roulette with five chambers loaded. You might survive it, sure, but don’t bet on it.

I could ride to the Campground, spend the night and then hope for the fog to burn off by 8am. I’d get into Philly around 11:30am. I suppose that I could park at the event site, but I’d rather park at Elisebeth’s. However, I don’t want to make her late for the start of the Ratha-yatra.

At this point, I just don’t know what to do.

Regardless, I’m going to get my camping stuff together tonight and prep the scooter for a long ride.

I’ll keep yous updated.

ps – or I could rent a car….

***UPDATE***
I’m renting a car.

Well here’s another festival where I’m stuck at work. *Grumbles*

And what is Radhastami? Radhastami is Srimati Radharani’s birthday. Janmastami was Krishna’s birthday, this is Radha’s.

Who is Radharani?

One of our scriptures describes Radharani: “The transcendental goddess Srimati Radharani is the direct counterpart of Lord Sri Krsna. She is the central figure for all the goddesses of fortune. She possesses all the attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead. She is the primeval internal potency of the Lord.” – Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila.

Radharani is the female “side” of God. Krishna is the male “side.” “Radha and Krishna are one and the same, but they have assumed two bodies. Thus they enjoy each other, tasting the mellows of love. Krishna is compared to the full moon, and Radha is like his effulgence.” [- CC, Adi]

“Krishna is compared to the full moon, and Radha is like his effulgence.” – Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur

Or to put it very plainly, Srila Prabhupada describes it in a purport from Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila:

As already explained, Krsna and Radha are one in two. They are identical. Krsna expands Himself in multi-incarnations and plenary portions like the purusas. Similarly, Srimati Radharani expands Herself in multi-forms as the goddesses of fortune, the queens and the damsels of Vraja. Such expansions from Srimati Radharani are all Her plenary portions. All these womanly forms of Krsna are expansions corresponding to His plenary expansions of Visnu forms. These expansions have been compared to reflected forms of the original form. There is no difference between the original and reflected forms. The female reflections of Krsna’s pleasure potency are as good as Krsna Himself.

This is from a 1973 Radhastami lecture by Srila Prabhuapda:

Therefore we don’t keep Krsna alone. No. Radha-Krsna. First Radharani. So that day is today. First you have to worship Radharani. If you go through Radharani…

Therefore in Vrndavana you will see all devotees, they will address one another, “Jaya Radhe.” Still. Because they know that “If Radharani is pleased, if I can please Radharani…” Radharani is presented, the original pleasure potency, always absorbed in thought of Krsna. So anyone who comes before Radharani to serve Krsna, oh, She becomes so pleased, “Oh, here is a devotee of Krsna.” She immediately recommends, “Krsna, oh, here is a devotee. He is better than Me.” This is Radharani. I may be a, not devotee. I may be most fallen rascal. But if I try to reach Krsna through Radharani, then my business is successful. Therefore we should worship Radharani first. That is our business. Instead of offering directly one flower to Krsna, you just put it in the hands of Radharani: “My mother Radharani, Jagan-mata, if you kindly take this flower and offer it to Krsna.” “Oh,” Radharani says, “Oh, you have brought a flower?” Krsna said, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26], but don’t try to offer Krsna directly. Just offer through Radharani. It will be very much appreciated by Radharani.

So this is our philosophy, to please Krsna through Radharani, and just today is the auspicious day of Radharani appearance. So we should offer puspanjali and pray to Radharani that “Radharani, kindly be merciful and tell about me to Your Krsna. To Your Krsna. Krsna is Yours.” Krsna, Radha-Krsna. Krsna is not independent. Krsna is Radharani’s property. So you have to approach Krsna through Radharani. That is, today is the auspicious day. Worship Radharani very nicely and be happy.

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.

Because today is Radhastami, we should do what we can to please Radharani. The best thing we can do is chant:

Actually…. that’s a good idea any day!

So let’s get to it!

Today is Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day, his birthday. The vedic calendar, which devotees and hindus use, is a lunar calendar. That’s why our festivals will fall on different western calendar days each year. This year, Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day is today.

For devotees celebrating it, we fast till noon.

But for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about and are wondering just who Srila Prabhupada is, here’s a little bio…

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (September 1, 1896–November 14, 1977) was the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (popularly known as the “Hare Krishnas”). Born as Abhay Charan De, in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He studied at the Scottish Churches College, Calcutta, which was then administered by the British.

In 1950, at the age of fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada retired from married life, and four years later he adopted the vanaprastha (retired) order to devote more time to his studies and writing. Srila Prabhupada traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in very humble circumstances in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannyasa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada began work on his life’s masterpiece: a multivolume translation and commentary on the 18,000-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana).

He then left India, obtaining free passage on a freight ship called the Jaladuta, with the aim of fulfilling his spiritual master’s instruction to spread the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu around the world. In his possession were a suitcase, an umbrella, a supply of dry cereal, about seven dollars worth of Indian currency, and several boxes of books.

By July 1966 he had brought “Hare Krishna” to the West, founding the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City. Prabhupada spent much of the last decade of his life setting up the institution of ISKCON. Since he was the Society’s leader, his personality and management were responsible for much of ISKCON’s growth and the reach of his mission.

After a group of devotees and temple had been established in New York another center was started in San Francisco. From here Prabhupada travelled throughout America with his disciples, popularising the movement through street chanting, book distribution (Sankirtana) and public speeches.

Over the following years Prabhupada’s continuing leadership role took him around the world some several times setting up temples and communities in all of the major continents. By the time of his death in Vrindavan eleven years later (1977), ISKCON was a widely known expression of Vaishnavism on an international basis.

In the twelve years from his arrival in New York until his final days he:

* circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents.
* introduced Vedic gurukul education to a Western audience.
* directed the founding of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which clams to be the world’s largest publisher of ancient and classical Vaishnava religious texts.
* founded the religious colony New Vrindavan in West Virginia
* authored sixty books (many available online here) on Vedantic philosophy, religion, literature and culture (including four in Bengali)
* watched ISKCON grow to a confederation of more than 100 schools, temples, institutes, farm communities, and ashrams.

Through his mission, Prabhupada followed and communicated the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and introduced bhakti yoga to an international audience. Within Gaudiya Vaishnavism this was viewed as the fulfillment of a long time mission to introduce Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings to the world.

[culled mostly from wikipedia, which was mostly written by devotees]

And that, in a nutshell, is Srila Prabhupada.

Again, not really near a temple. If I were, there would be devotees talking about their memories of Srila Prabhupada, relating funny stories and enjoying each others company. It would be great to be around them

So today, at work, I’m going to be watching a newish series about Srila Prabhupada.

It’s called Following Srila Prabhupada. I was able to pick up the first five volumes at the Utah temple. I’ve watched the first volume – it’s made up of vintage footage from New York City in the mid to late 60′s. Neat look at life on the lower east side from that time.

There is also a series called Memories of Srila Prabhupada. I highly recommend this. There are 40 or so DVDs in this set. Basically, they are interviews with disciples of Srila Prabhupada. They talk about their time with him. If you’ve never seen these, you should. Even my nondevotee friends really dig them.

I’ll also be reading a bit from the book Our Srila Prabhupada – A Friend to All. Here’s a letter written about it by Bhakti Tirtha Swami. The author/editor, Mulaprakrti dasi, passed away shortly after compiling the book. This is a wonderful tribute to her.

This book is mostly for devotees, I guess. But with a little intelligence and understanding, anyone can read it and get something out of it.

You can buy it at perfectionofyoga.com, but their site is down. I’m not sure why. You can also buy it at Krishna Culture. There are a few other place, but I’ve not ordered from them before, so you’re on your own there.

Anyway, have a lovely day.

Well, ok. My Janmastami wasn’t so bad. I watched a bunch of the Mahabharata, as can be seen from my picture with Kamsa.

And then I started cooking. This was around 10pm. The cooking was a bit strange. I have basically zero room here.

I started by cutting up some cauliflower. I decided to make a cauliflower/tomato prep and a chickpea prep. The cauliflower was big.

I have no dhotis (“robes” – traditional dress) and really no kurtas (shirts) within wearing distance. So it was my black maha-mantra tshirt and shorts. I do what I can.

About a half hour into it, things started taking shape…

Then, around 11:30, I got the deities’ plates ready and made the offering.

And then I waited to eat. Actually, that is now. I’m writing this as I’m waiting to break the fast.

I tuned into the Alachua Janmastami audio broadcast and heard the amazing music that Ana-payani was dancing to. I remember her. I gave her and Saraswati and a few other devotees a ride from New Vrndavana to Pittsburgh to DC. It was great.

And I just a really nice comment on MySpace from Ashley wishing me a happy Janmastami (basically.. hehe). Olivia also was writing me on and off. And I got a message through to Rati Manjari that I was sorry that I couldn’t make it to NV and that I will soon. Her reply? “Bastard. Tell him that’s my reply!” HAHA! God, I miss the devotees.

And now, as I’m waiting for the midnight hour, I have a small chance to really long for and miss the devotees and New Vrndavana. No other temple will hold for me what New Vrndavana holds for me. It will always be home. And maybe someday it will actually be home again for me.

I’m thinking that maybe next summer I’ll spend some extended time there.

Fifteen more minutes.
I’m not hungry. I’ll take a little bit to break the fast and then feast tomorrow for Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day.

Much different from last year:

Janmastami @ NewV
Haribol!

Ok, first off, this keyboard is horrible. So it will be a very short post.

Monday I drove to Columbus, stayed overnight. Tuesday Jen and I drove to New Vrndavana. Wednesday, Radhanama joined us.

Last night I ate a whole MESS of maha. I was soooo drunk, it was wacky. And then I got a tummy ache and couldn’t go to sleep.

Seeing a ton of people who I used to know. Wish I would have gotten pictures. Well, I’ll be coming back a lot more, I think. Even kicking around the idea of moving here. Never know.

And now it’s 10:30am on Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day. Fasting till noon is easy when you’re not awake for it, huh Jen.

And here are my pics from last year.

Crazy that so much is different. But I made the most of it that I could.

Haribol!

-

Edit -

Right after the stroke of midnight, I saw that I had a new email. Someone emailing me late night Happy Janmastamis? That would be wonderful! But no. It was just more MySpace porn spam. Oh well. Hare Krishna, Kissyjiga! Happy Janmastami to you!

So how was the prasad (food offered to Krishna)? Well, because it was so late, I didn’t eat much…

And was it good?

You know, I think it turned out pretty ok!

Thumbs up!

Hare Krishna!